Should cyclist go to jail for riding a fixie?

Cyclist kills pedestrian, authorities say if he were riding a bike with "proper brakes", he could have stopped in time. What do you think?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-40927791

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Permalink Reply by S on August 26, 2017 at 4:03am

Actually, I believe it is. I'm not sure what the laws in Britain are like but Illinois and Chicago have or had laws that required bikes to have a brake that is capable of causing the braked wheel to skid on clean dry pavement. I don't think that's enforced but it could probably be tacked on to the charges / citations if you are involved in an incident.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on August 26, 2017 at 9:49am

A bicycle brake is required both under Illinois law and Chicago ordinance. Fixie riders have attempted to make the lame argument that in their case, they themselves are the brakes. To my knowledge, that argument has never worked, nor should it.